Tag: Bellator News

Rory MacDonald Assesses ‘Interesting’ Robbie Lawler vs. Ben Askren Fight

Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald is the latest to give his thoughts on the Robbie Lawler vs. Ben Askren fight. Askren defeated Lawler via submission in his debut at UFC 235 last month, however, the finish was extremely controversial. Lawler was put in a bulldog choke, but never tapped and protested as soon as referee […]

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Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald is the latest to give his thoughts on the Robbie Lawler vs. Ben Askren fight.

Askren defeated Lawler via submission in his debut at UFC 235 last month, however, the finish was extremely controversial.

Lawler was put in a bulldog choke, but never tapped and protested as soon as referee Herb Dean stopped the fight. Fans and MMA personalities are still debating to this day about the finish of the fight.

MacDonald faced Lawler twice, and was at one point slated to fight Askren when the latter was at ONE Championship, so his thoughts on the fight are especially interesting.

“The Red King” agrees that the stoppage was “not great,” but was impressed with the heart that Askren showed especially after the ground and pound he suffered at the hands of Lawler.

“I did see the fight,” MacDonald told BJPenn.com. “He’s [Askren] quite a powerful star. But props to him, he’s tough, he survived and not only survived but kept coming forward. He got back to back to his feet and he kept moving towards, which is… Not a lot of people can do that after taking that kind of punishment.

“Obviously, the stoppage was not great. In my opinion, he [Lawler] was awake and fine. But that’s the sport, the ref has to make a call and unfortunately it was in a tough position to make the right call. So it’s just one of those things. But it was interesting.”

Still Open For A Cross-Promotional Fight

MacDonald is set to put his title on the line at Bellator 220 this weekend when he takes on Jon Fitch in the final welterweight grand prix quarterfinal.

And if presented to him, he would still be open to a cross-promotional fight with a UFC welterweight in the future.

“Sure, I’m the champion now and I’m going to take on all comers.”

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Jon Fitch Responds To Firas Zahabi’s PED Accusations

Firas Zahabi has been very vocal that he isn’t buying Jon Fitch’s recent resurgence in mixed martial arts (MMA) as simply newfound dominance. Instead, the TriStar MMA coach believes Fitch’s recent success is due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Speaking to “The MMA Hour” earlier today (Mon. April 22, 2019) Fitch responded to […]

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Firas Zahabi has been very vocal that he isn’t buying Jon Fitch’s recent resurgence in mixed martial arts (MMA) as simply newfound dominance.

Instead, the TriStar MMA coach believes Fitch’s recent success is due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Speaking to “The MMA Hour” earlier today (Mon. April 22, 2019) Fitch responded to Zahabi’s claims. Fitch seems to put no stock into Zahabi – coach of welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre – and his words (via MMA Fighting):

“I don’t care,” Fitch said. “I don’t live my life caring what other people say or think. If you’re going to go through your life worrying about other people and what they think, you’re going to be a loser.

“You’re not going to get far. So I don’t care. People can think whatever they want to think, I live my life for me and my family.”

Caught Once Before

Fitch opened up on getting caught with elevated levels of testosterone in his loss to former WSOF champion Rousimar Palhares. He called it the ‘best thing and worse thing’ that had happened to him:

“I fell down a spiral of depression. I was struggling with my personal family life and finances, I got to a place where you could see other guys around you — I found out about guys who I fought who were on TRT, the therapeutic exemptions, I learned about Vitor Belfort’s testosterone being covered up and him being allowed to compete anyway. There were rumors of other guys, that happening too also. And then I was taking a 70 percent pay cut, at least 70 percent pay cut from going from the UFC to World Series of Fighting.

“So I was thinking, like, why am I holding myself to this standard and making less money and my family’s struggling? Just all kinds of excuses. Any kind of excuse to rationalize why it was okay to cheat against a cheater like Palhares. And I had no idea what I was doing. It was pure comedy, me trying to use this shit. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even grapple that entire training camp because I was so sore from the injections, because I was doing something wrong. I’m not even sure what I was doing wrong.

“But yeah, that was probably the stupidest thing and the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Big Rebound

Fitch will be challenging Zahabi’s pupil, Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald, this weekend (Sat. April 27, 2019) at Bellator 220 from the SAP Center in San Jose, California. He’s currently on a five-fight win streak under the World Series Of Fighting (WSOF), Professional Fighter’s League (PFL), and Bellator banners.

As for MacDonald, he was unsuccessful in his attempt to become Bellator’s first-ever two-weight champion back in September. Middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi smashed those hopes in the second round of their Bellator 206 main event meeting. It ended a two-fight win streak; however, MacDonald retains his 170-pound title. Now, he looks to get back on the winning track with a successful title defense against Fitch.

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Rory MacDonald ‘Very Confident’ He’ll Finish Jon Fitch At Bellator 220

Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald is extremely confident of a win over former UFC title challenger Jon Fitch. The Canadian will make his first appearance in the promotion’s Welterweight Grand Prix at Bellator 220, which takes place April 27 in San Jose, California. In Fitch, he’ll have an experienced wrestler to deal with, and MacDonald […]

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Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald is extremely confident of a win over former UFC title challenger Jon Fitch.

The Canadian will make his first appearance in the promotion’s Welterweight Grand Prix at Bellator 220, which takes place April 27 in San Jose, California. In Fitch, he’ll have an experienced wrestler to deal with, and MacDonald has no plans on taking the fight to the ground. Instead, he believes he will finish the fight early on.

“He’s a good wrestler, but he’s tough. He can throw big punches, but he likes to grind guys out, be on top, smother them,” MacDonald told Toronto Sun. “I want to keep my distance with kickboxing, and keep it standing. I don’t really want to be taken down or be pressed up against the cage wrestling. I want to be the one controlling the action.

“I’m very confident I can finish this fight in the first couple of rounds. But it’s a five-round fight and I’ll be fighting patiently, but at the same time hunting tactically.”

Eyeing A Rematch

The winner of the fight will go on to face Neiman Gracie in the semifinals of the grand prix. On the other side of the bracket, former Bellator champion Douglas Lima takes on Michael “Venom” Page in the other semifinal.

MacDonald believes Lima will win. And although he defeated the Brazilian to win the Bellator welterweight title, he would be interested in a rematch.

“I think you always have something to prove if you’re a hungry fighter. It was a decision win. He did a lot of damage to my leg. I think it would be an interesting rematch.”

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Bellator MMA Signs UFC Veteran Leslie Smith

Bellator MMA continues to bolster their women’s 145-pound division with their latest signing of veteran Leslie Smith. It has been almost two years since Smith, 36, has competed in a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) contest. But the UFC vet and potential union organizer has signed a multi-fight contract to fight for the Viacom-owned promotion. […]

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Bellator MMA continues to bolster their women’s 145-pound division with their latest signing of veteran Leslie Smith.

It has been almost two years since Smith, 36, has competed in a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) contest. But the UFC vet and potential union organizer has signed a multi-fight contract to fight for the Viacom-owned promotion. Smith confirmed the signing following Yahoo! Sports’ initial report.

Smith will call the women’s featherweight division home in Bellator. She will have her sights firmly set on the promotion’s champion Julia Budd.

The UFC decided to let Smith go without the fighter having to fulfill the last fight on her contract. It is widely believed “The Peacemaker” was released from the UFC because she was championing the Project Spearhead movement that would create a union of sorts for the fighters.

Although she stills feels passionate about fighters’ rights, Smith feels that she no longer needs to be preoccupied with those matters because Bellator treats their fighters much better.

“What I’m so excited about signing with Bellator for is that I do not think they do not have that climate of fear that was present in the UFC,” Smith said. “They’re a company that cares. They listen to their fighters. They put their fighters first and they give them the opportunity to have sponsors and there is a lot of expression that can happen inside those deals with the sponsors.”

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Scott Coker Comments On Rory MacDonald Possibly Missing Bellator 222

Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald will defend his title against Jon Fitch at Bellator 220. MacDonald and Fitch’s bout takes place as part of the promotion’s Welterweight Grand Prix. The winner of the contest will advance to the semifinals against Neiman Gracie at Bellator 222 on June 14. However, that’s a quick turnaround for the […]

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Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald will defend his title against Jon Fitch at Bellator 220.

MacDonald and Fitch’s bout takes place as part of the promotion’s Welterweight Grand Prix. The winner of the contest will advance to the semifinals against Neiman Gracie at Bellator 222 on June 14. However, that’s a quick turnaround for the MacDonald vs. Fitch winner, who fight on April 27.

Speaking at the Bellator NYC press conference this week, President Scott Coker was asked about the possibility of either MacDonald or Fitch being unable to medically compete so quickly. Here’s what he had to say:

“You’re right, I don’t want to think about that at this point,” Coker admitted. “In all fairness, we’ve been through this before. When I was working at K1 you had what they call Survivor Rule, so, if one of the fighters gets hurt and can’t advance, then the survivor would continue on in the tournament.

“But, you know, we’re gonna keep all of our options open. So, if one of the fighters can’t continue, then we’ll just deal with it at that time and we’ll make the best decision possible. In talking to both the athletes, they both wanted a quick turnaround. So this works into their favor as well, is what they’re telling me.”

MacDonald remains undefeated at welterweight under the Bellator banner. Unfortunately for “The Red King,” he failed to become a Bellator double champion in September against Gegard Mousasi. He was finished in the second round via TKO.

Now, MacDonald returns against Fitch at 170 pounds. The 41-year-old is currently on a five-fight win streak from fights in both Bellator and World Series Of Fighting (WSOF).

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Ryan Bader Inks New Multi-Year Deal With Bellator MMA

Bellator double champ Ryan Bader has re-upped with the promotion for several more years. MMA Fighting reports that Bader has signed a new exclusive multi-year deal with Bellator, for whom he currently reigns as the heavyweight and light heavyweight champion. The 35-year-old initially signed with Bellator back in 2017. He has yet to be defeated […]

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Bellator double champ Ryan Bader has re-upped with the promotion for several more years.

MMA Fighting reports that Bader has signed a new exclusive multi-year deal with Bellator, for whom he currently reigns as the heavyweight and light heavyweight champion. The 35-year-old initially signed with Bellator back in 2017.

He has yet to be defeated under the promotion’s banner and is currently on a seven-fight win streak. In his last outing, Bader defeated Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 214 to capture the vacant Bellator heavyweight title. With the victory, he became the first double champ in the company’s history.

Bader won the Bellator light heavyweight throne from Phil Davis back in June of 2017 via split decision. He has looked tremendous since joining the Scott Coker-led promotion and looks to continue his amazing run after inking his new deal.

Bader is tentatively slated to face fellow UFC veteran Cheick Kongo in his next title defense. A date has not been officially confirmed for the bout.

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